With Nintendo’s history of innovation in combining video games with real-world space – from the Wii’s motion controls to the Switch’s versatility, to Ring Fit Adventure, Labo and many more examples – it’s almost surprising that the company is still able to surprise.
The latest such surprise is Pikmin Finder, a mobile browser game using AR technology from Niantic subsidiary 8th Wall.
Treasure ahoy!
Pikmin Finder’s release placed the game into the hands of players just in time for Nintendo Live 2023 which recently wrapped in Seattle. The game is available to everyone, but what better time to try it out than while waiting in line at the event?
After all, the simple gameplay is much more focused on AR than geolocation – differing from Niantic’s Pikmin Bloom and Pokémon Go in this regard – and so can be played in one spot, as long as users can rotate their phones around.
The aim of the game is to find Pikmin sprouts planted in the ground and pluck them with the swipe of a finger. By doing this, players can build a platoon to send out in search of treasure, of which there are 20 types to collect.
Of course, true to form for the Pikmin universe, these treasures have uniquely descriptive names differing from what we know them by; a simple tennis ball is instead a Sphere of Fuzzy Feelings, and a pocket watch is upgraded to the imposing title of Temporal Mechanism.
The Switch itself gets a reference too, with the Pikmin having a chance to discover a Telekinesis Detector, or a Joy-Con, as we know it. Even retro handheld consoles aren’t beyond the Pikmin’s potential finds, as they may well drag back from the wilds a Game Boy Advance SP, first released in 2003. In the Pikmin universe, its name is the Stone of Advancement, but the GBA logo remains visible.
As a promotional tactic for the recently released Pikmin 4 on Switch, releasing a simple game to get people playing while they wait in line is another of those strange but effective Nintendo masterplans. Treasures like the Dimension Converter (or just 3D glasses) come directly from Pikmin 4, after all. Being opened via browser without any downloads makes Pikmin Finder even more accessible, and a fair few queuing Nintendo enthusiasts are bound to blossom into Pikmin fans because of it.
